Bacheb s sons



(No Model.)

N. KOENIG.

MAGHINE PUR FOLDING SHEET METAL. No. 880,580. Patented Apr. 3, 1888.

N. FEYERS. www-Litmgupher, wmungwn. D. C,

(lhvrrnn STATES PATENT trice..

l NICOLAS KOENIG, OF NORTH TARRYTOWN, ASSIGNOR TO JACOB BROM- BAOHERS SONS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MACHINE FOR FOLDING SHEET METAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 380,580l dated April 3, 1888. v

Application tiled August 22, 1887. Serial No. 247,526.

To @ZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, NICOLAS KOENIG, of North Tarrytown, in the county of Vcstchester and State of New York, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Machines for Folding Sheet Metal, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in the machine for folding sheet metal for which Letters Patent were granted to me heretofore, under date of July 26, 1887, No. 367,214, the improvements being designed with a view to facilitate the adjustment of the bar for folding the sheet metal, and to increase the strength of the clamp by which the size of the folds are regulated.

The invention consists in the construction and combination of parts,which are to be hereinafter described, and finally pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a plan or top view of my improved machine for folding sheet metal, a portion being broken away to exhibit some of the parts which constitute myimprovements. Fig. 2is a front view of the machine before folding the metal. Fig. 8 is a front elevation of thesame after folding the same. Figs. 4 and 5 are vertical transverse sections of the machine, taken, respectively, on lines x rc and y y, Figs. 2 and 3; and Fig. 6 shows different lsir/.es of folds made by my machine.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

The general arrangement of the main parts of the machine is the same as that described in my prior patent referred to. They consist of a. folding-bar, A, which is provided with journals a a, that are supported in bearings of a swinging frame, Z). An arm, B, provided with a handle (not shown in the drawings) is applied to the swinging frame for operating the folding-bar A..

C is a stationary plate, around the edge of which the folding-bar A is moved. Beneath the plate C is a clamp, R, which forms a portion of the swinging frame b. A gage, D, is arranged below the plate C back of the clamp R and serves to regulate the width of that part of the sheet metal which is to be bent or folded over.

(No model.)

Thejournals a ofthe folding-bar A are provided with rollers c,which may be made integral therewith. These rollers c rest on antifriction rollers e, the journals of which are supported in bearings of the frame F. The frame F is pivotally connected at one end to standards g, which extend upwardly from the base-plate G 0f the machine, as shown clearly in Figs. 4 and 5. The frame b is also pivotally connected to the upper part of the standards g. The outer ends of the frame F are supported, by means of screws g, on disks of spring-metal fitted into cavities of the baseplate G, which disks are clearly shown in my prior patent referred to,and indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 5.

When the edge of the sheet .metal to be folded has been inserted below the edge of the folding-plate C and between the same and the upper edge of the clamp R as far as the gage D will permit, the folding-bar A is swung by means of a handle, B, from its horizontal position in front of the clamp R, as shown in Fig. 4, into the upward position shownin Fig.

5,whereby the sheet metal is bent or folded by the joint action of the plate, gage, clamp, and folding-bar, as shown in dotted lines in Figs. 4 and 5, respectively. Simultaneously with moving the folding-bar A into its upward position the journals o of the same move by thei 11 am:` friction rollers c over the rollers e e, so that the frame Z1 is also raised to some extent. The clamp R is thereby moved upwardly, so as to clamp the edge of the sheet metal placed below the foldingplate C, which is accomplished by the action of the spring-disks on which it rests, which disks give the clamp R a yielding support, so that it can always yield to a slight ex tent. Itis advantageous to provide for this yielding of the clamp R, in order that the machine may adapt itself to different thicknesses of the met-al that is to be bent or folded. This' adjustment may be accomplished by the screws g; but owing to the yielding of the clamp thev screws are not required to be adjusted for small differences in the thickness of the metal, but only when greater differences in the same occur.

The base-plate Gis provided with an upward extension, Gf, which serves to support the folding-plate G. The upward extension, G', is-pro IOO vided at about the middle of its length with a horizontal extension, G. The gage D is provided with a shank, d, that is guided in the 'horizontal extension G2. The gage D is adj ustable forward and backward below the plate C in the direction of the axis of its shank d by means of a handle, d', that is fulcrumed to the extension G2 and guided by a pin, LZ2-in an arcshaped slot, d3, of the extension G, as shown in Fig. 1. The inner end of the lever-handle d is located in a recess of the shank d, being applied to the inner end ofthe fulcrum ofthe same, and connected by a pivot-link, (1*, attached to the inner end of the lever d', to the 5 shank d of the gage D, so that the latter can be readily adjusted forward or backward by v oscillating the outer end of the lever d. This feature is fully described and claimed in my prior patent. In this patent the clamp R is Y 2o provided with recesses r for the gage-fingers,

that extend entirely across the upper edge of the same, so as to reduce to some extent the strength of the clamp and cause it to bend l slightly near the center by the pressure ex- 275 erted in bending the metal. To obviate this effect and produce a uniform clamping action on the sheet metal to be folded, the recesses r for the gage-lingers are so arranged that they I extend only partly through the upper part of i 3o the clamp R sufficiently to guide the same. This produces a continuous unbroken edge at the upper front part of the clamp R, which in- -creases materially the effective clamping action of the same. The continuous edge ofthe 435 upper front' part of the clamp R has the further advantage that a uniform grip on the g metal is exerted all along the edge of the same, and that consequently narrower strips can be folded over the edge without denting, which lao is the objectionable feature of my prior patent. This forms the first point of my improvement. The second feature consists in the means for l adjusting the folding-bar. In the folding-maj `chines heretofore in use this was accomplish ed in an imperfect manner by a clamping-screw y thated through a slot of the movable sec- 5 MOH 0f bhe ding-bar and engaged the adjustable section o same. The adjustable sec- 50 tlon of the foldingr A was hinged and provided with inclined :'"projections, while the l, movable section was arranged along said inl clined recesses, so that the movable section, and thereby the edge ofthe folding-bar, could be set closer to or farther away from the edge l ofthe plate C, and thereby the sheet metal folded in such a manner that the bent portion vlas` closer to or farther from the body of the .2 eet.

To produce the accurate adjustment of the section lA, which latter is guided by a guideslot, h3, on a fixed screw, h2, of the folding-bar A. To impart the required degree of motion to the movable section A', a lever, K, having a handle, K', is pivoted to the folding-bar A,

and the end of said pivoted lever connected 7o by a pin, K2, with the adjustable section A2,

said pin being guided in a slot, K3, of the folding-bur A. A thumb-screw, K4, clamps the lever K in position when the adjustment of the movable section' A of the folding-bar by the lever K has been accomplished. By the pivoted lever K the lateral motion of the section A2, and thereby the adjustment of the movable section A of the folding-bar, can be accomplished to a nicety, and thereby the edge of the sheet metal folded to different distances fromthe body of the sheet, according to the degree of adjustment given to the edge of the folding-bar A from the bar C. The different degrees of folding the'edge of the sheet metal by the machine are clearly illustrated in Fig. 6.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a machine for folding sheet metal, the combination, with a stationary plate, around the edge of which the sheet metal is to be folded, of a folding-bar, a swinging frame by which the folding-bar is supported, a springclamp below the stationary plate, and an adjustable gage back of said clamp, the clamp being provided with a continuous edge, and with recesses back of said edge for the projections of the gage, substantially as set forth.

2. In a machine for folding sheet metal, the combination, with a stationary plate around the edge of which the sheet metal is to be folded, of a folding-bar, a clamp below the stationary plate, a swinging frame by which the clamp is supported and in which the folding-bar is journaled, and an adjustable gage back of the clamp, said folding-bar being provided with two sections, a laterally-adj ustahle section and a hinged section, and with a pivoted lever connected to the laterally-adj ustable section, and a clampscrew for clamping' said section after the same has been adjusted, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

NICOLAS KOENIG.

IOO

IIO

Witnesses:

EDWARD J. I-IARTMAN, GEORGE SINNOTT. 

